The Last Amateurs: 2009

Friday, 17 July 2009

From Nausea to Method

Not for the faint-hearted:

http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/646940

(audio needs to be played loud for full effect ! )

Tuesday, 24 March 2009

The Last Amateurs - out now in paperback!

Mark de Rond's hugely acclaimed The Last Amateurs is available now in paperback from all good bookshops, including Amazon, whose link is on the left, and these alternatives:

Waterstones
The Book Depository
Borders
WHSmith

It's only £8.99 (or indeed less - see the links) so there's no excuse not to a own a copy of the book described by ITV commentator Peter Drury as 'required reading for boat race cynics and aficionados alike'.

Mark de Rond on the Boat Race

Mark de Rond, author of The Last Amateurs, talks about the Boat Race and what it can teach about assembling the perfect team in this video produced by Cambridge University:

The Last Amateurs by Mark de Rond. Foreword by Sir Steve Redgrave.

Founded in 1828, the Cambridge University Boat Club has one objective: to beat Oxford in the Boat Race. This annual affair is one of sharp contrasts: a private match between two of the world’s oldest universities, it is still followed by millions worldwide; an occasion marked by tribal rivalry, it also harbours deep mutual respect; quintessentially British, it is contested by amateurs who are nevertheless world-class sportsmen; it is all about taking part and yet the pain of losing is unimaginable.

A Cambridge don in his late thirties, Mark de Rond spent a year living the blood, sweat and tears of the 39 students risking all for a chance to race Oxford, seeing in them everything he is not. This intense and deeply personal account reinforces the great traditions of Oxbridge, yet gives them a human face. For despite their brilliance, these individuals are flawed too.

So what does it take to row in the coveted Blue Boat? De Rond delves into the depths of what it means to be a man and the primeval desire to compete. Told chronologically and driven by the pursuit of the final victory, the result is truly compelling – and a sports book like no other.

Mark de Rond described by the Financial Times as ‘Cambridge’s secret weapon for the Boat Race’, is an Oxford-educated Cambridge don. His work has also featured in Time, the Economist, The Times, The Week, and on BBC Radio 4.

Sir Steve Redgrave CBE is widely considered to be Britain’s greatest Olympian, having won a gold medal in rowing at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000, as well as an additional bronze medal in 1988.